Editor's Note: The following editorial by News and Sentinel of Colebrook Publisher Karen Harrigan initially ran in that newspaper last week. It reflects, as only that hometown newspaper could, on the...

Over the top, again: NH Dems can't stop beating dead horse

EDITORIALAugust 31. 2013 3:03AMThe New Hampshire Democratic Party machine, such as it is, just cannot let go of a bogeyman that was barely there in the first place. Where it initially just looked silly, it now looks absurd.

The initial issue was then-Senate President Peter Bragdon being named director of the Local Government Center, or LGC.

That was a potential conflict of interest, to be sure, given the nature of the LGC and its dealings with state government. As leader of the Senate branch of that government, Bragdon was wise to step down.

But that infuriated the Democrat machine all the more. It sensed a whipping boy was slipping away. And if Bragdon remained in the Senate, the Dems realized, they couldn't gain control of the Senate, which tilts Republican, 13 to 11.

So they demanded he leave entirely. He did not.

They then turned their fire on soon-to-be Senate President Chuck Morse, referencing what they said was his "monumental task'' in trying to remove the "unethical taint of Bragdongate from the scandal-plagued Senate GOP caucus.''

Do these jokers ever moderate their tone to fit the actual circumstances?

The over-the-top rhetoric put Senate Democrats in an awkward spot, since they will now be dealing with Morse in the Senate.

Senate Democrat leader Sylvia Larsen of Concord wisely chose to ignore her party's fire-breathers. She announced that she was confident that Morse would treat her side fairly. To be sure, she will be treated more fairly than her party hacks are treating the Republicans.